O.C. board fears loss of local control in school standards

Orange County's Board of Education on Thursday joined a communitygroup in expressing frustration with new nationwide curriculum standards that California schools will use starting in 2014-15.

Members of the board, which oversees about 7,100 students in county programs and serves as the appeals board for local districts, shared their dissatisfaction with what they see as a top-down approach to education and lack of local control.

“The authority is at state level, not county level,” board member John Bedell said during the group's regular meeting.

Common Core State Standards focus on in-depth knowledge and critical thinking skills in math and English language arts, as opposed to memorization and multiple choice testing. The standards were crafted by state leaders across the United States, but found ready support from U.S. education officials.

California adopted the standards in 2010. Orange County schools are rolling them out now and training teachers in preparation for next year, when they become the state's official standards.

Orange County's board doesn't have authority to block implementation of the standards – the group speaks only for county-run schools on curriculum matters.

However, members asked the staff to research their legal standing and cost estimates for a potential lawsuit.

Ronald Wenkart, an attorney for the school board, told members that if school districts refuse to comply with the Common Core State Standards, the state could withhold funding or get a court order requiring them to comply with state rules. Board members are required to ensure textbooks and courses of study comply with state standards, staff members said.

“There is a real serious conflict here that the people in power that create public policy are ignoring and the base, the grassroots – I'm going to use gentleman words – are not happy,” said board member Ken L. Williams Jr. “It's a one-size-fits-all made by the dominating political group and that's wrong.”

Though standards come from the state, local school districts can make their own standards more rigorous than Common Core. Local districts also control curriculum and the day-to-day classroom activities and materials, said Nancy Brownell, a senior fellow for Common Core implementation at the California Board of Education.

A group of about 15 community members who attended the county meeting challenged the state's adoption of the standards.

“It's being implemented without any parental permission,” parent Janet Geehr said. “You're taking our tax dollars and spending it on this abomination that has no promise of even being successful.”

When California adopted its first statewide standards in 1997, officials gathered public input widely, Brownell said. When researching Common Core, Brownell said, “We were looking at the best standards across the country, and California's standards were among the most rigorous and complex.”

“We were revising our own standards with committees that involved educators and parents, not so much at every local level, but across the state.”

The new standards are being opposed locally by Orange County Concerned Citizens Against Common Core. Members have spoken at school board meetings across the county, including in Santa Ana and Anaheim. At many district board meetings, trustees listen but don't take action, members said.

Common Core has been adopted by 45 states and Washington, D.C.

Gloria Pruyne, chairwoman of the group, carries a chart highlighting states where action is being taken to avoid Common Core, including Indiana, where the state passed legislation to withdraw. Seven other states have withdrawal bills in process, according to Education Week.

“To some degree, it's about politics in some parts of the state,” Brownell said. “I don't think we can expect there will be 100 percent agreement.”

Orange County schools Superintendent Al Mijares asked that the research include the cost of retaining additional attorneys.

“For every dollar we spent on attorneys, that's a dollar that's not going to the classroom,” board member David L. Boyd said.